ZIMACE PROJECT

Expected Project Outputs

1. Mentored Community Health Rights cadres or DREAMS ambassadors on women and girls’ health rights and access.
2. Establishment of locally rooted and integrated community-led monitoring mechanisms for CBOs.
3. Strengthened and gender-responsive Health Centre Committees, ensuring the inclusion of women and girls as Community Health Rights champions/DREAMS ambassadors.
4. Revitalized and supported multidisciplinary and multisectoral District Task Teams (DTT) meeting quarterly.
5. Developed and disseminated position papers and policy briefs on emerging health issues to key stakeholders.
6. Capacitated and supported Provincial Health Executives (PHEs) and scaled up unresolved health rights and access issues.
7. Effective accountability for health service delivery through close collaboration and cross-learning between ZIMACE work streams and implementing partners at national and subnational levels.

Expected Project Outcomes

1. Enhanced participation, voice, and agency of women and girls, including those with disabilities and key populations, in health-related matters, leading to reduced waiting periods at project health facilities and improved client experiences.
2. Collaborative and functional multi-level, multi-stakeholder platforms that bridge the gap between service providers and citizens (women and girls) to enhance responsiveness and accountability in health service delivery.
3. Improved service quality at local health centers through increased social accountability.

 

Expected Project Impact

Increased multi-level engagement and influence by women and girls, including those with disabilities and key populations, in gender-responsive health service delivery and wellness.

Major project activities

1. “Know Your Health Rights” campaign by DREAMS ambassadors and Community Health Rights Champions.
2. Strengthen the interface and coordination of existing CLM community-based partners.
3. Revitalize, support, and strengthen existing multidisciplinary and multisectoral District Task Teams (DTT).
4. Develop position papers and policy briefs based on emerging issues from the Health Centre Committees, District Task Teams, DHEs, and PHEs.
5. Support the convening and participation in Provincial Health Executive and Provincial Health Teams meetings.
6. Learning and Dissemination – Bi-Annual “Pause and Reflect” meetings.
7. Conduct short-term client satisfaction surveys quarterly.
8. Support the convening and participation in Provincial Consumer Advocacy Forums.
9. Program monitoring, evaluation, and support visits.
10. Media coverage through local community radio and newspapers.

 

Project strategies and approach

The proposed intervention will be implemented in Masvingo district covering the provincial level and district with linkages between local communities, district, and provincial levels. The will leverage on CLM and COMAPSS partners in Masvingo. Community Led Monitoring: Community-Led Monitoring (CLM) model is a participatory approach to monitoring and evaluating HIV/AIDS and health programs at the community level. It empowers communities to take ownership of their health programs by actively engaging in the monitoring process and providing feedback on the effectiveness and impact of interventions. The CLM model is designed to promote community ownership, participation, and accountability in HIV/AIDS programs, ultimately leading to more effective and sustainable interventions that address the needs of those affected by the epidemic. CLM initially focused on HIV/AIDS treatment but now has expanded to include broader health delivery issues.  CLM empower patients and communities to seek out treatment services, increase health literacy, expand engagement with health service delivery, support demand creation, and demand accountability from the health system to improve and deliver these services. Women and girls are important and integral part of CLM as they make the significant portion of patients through their observed health seeking behaviours.

Objective 1:  Enhance community engagement, women’s rights awareness and built trust.

1.1 Initiate the “Know Your Health Rights campaign” targeting women and girls in communities based on the DREAMS and Sister to Sister models who will engage women and girls in communities using various platforms and opportunities including churches, schools, colleges, and other social events. Pangaea Zimbabwe will improve the capacity and provide functional support to existing Dreams ambassadors and Community Health Rights champions (already existing in the community) to spearhead the campaign, empowering women, and girls to know their health rights. DREAMS (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe) is a global HIV prevention program funded by PEPFAR to address multilinked demographic, geographic, behavioural, and structural challenges that increase the risk of HIV amongst the most vulnerable adolescent girls and young women intervention. 1.2 Use the Sister to Sister model in reaching out to more women and girls in a peer to peer and cascade approach. The Sister-to-Sister program is a community-based initiative aimed at providing support, awareness, education, and empowerment to women and girls, particularly in rural areas through establishing networks of women mentors who offer guidance, counselling, and practical assistance to younger women and girls within their communities. 1.3 Integrate DREAMS ambassadors and/or Community Health Rights Champions into Health Centre Committees, CLM forum and District Task Teams representing Women and Girls and bringing forward issues affecting women and girls’ access to health services and rights. 1.4 Initiate and create platforms for Women and Girls to work closely with Community Led Monitoring partners’ and other key stakeholders like WICOZ to address lack of documentation and identity documents for women and girls representatives to identify and address health facility and community-level challenges affecting women and girls’ access to health services and rights.

Objective 2: Increase voice and participation of Women and Girls’ in health delivery issues

1. Develop a health delivery score card and conduct quarterly health delivery client surveys.
2. Through Health Centre Committees, DREAMS ambassadors and/or Community Health Rights Champions representing Women and Girls put forward women and girls’ preferences and opinions to the quality-of-service delivery.
3. Attending district and provincial level meetings to collaborate with district and provincial Ministry of Health structures to scale up unresolved matters to the Thematic Working Groups and other strategic forums including parliamentary portfolio committee on health and gender in Year 2 as the program progresses to influence policy and legal reforms.

Objective 3:

Foster Multi stakeholder engagement duty bearer accountability in health service delivery and rights realization for Women and Girls in Masvingo.

1. Strengthen existing Health Centre Committees at health facility level using the MOHCC Health Centre Committee policy/guide to ensure meaningful involvement and representation of women and girls (Dreams ambassadors and Community Health Rights Champions), ensuring active participation and representation of women and girls.
2. PZ will participate, help coordinate and strengthen existing multidisciplinary and multisectoral District Task Teams (DTT), drawing members from the private sector, MOHCC, relevant ministries, and other key stakeholders to effectively address emerging gaps and challenges in access to health services and rights for women and girls.
3. PZ will support and work closely with the District Health Executives and the Local Authorities Health and Social Services Committees to discuss and address matters coming from the HCCs and not resolved at that level. Matters not addressed at DHEs, and local authorities will be scaled up to the Provincial Health Executive, Provincial Health Team, and any other relevant forums and structures that can be useful in addressing matters affecting women and girls’ access to health services and rights.
4. Support the convening and participation in Provincial Health Executive and Provincial Consumer Advocacy forum of Women and Girls, bringing unresolved health rights and access issues affecting women and girls from the district level.
5. Develop position papers and policy briefs based on emerging issues from the Health Centre Committees, District Task Teams, DHEs, and PHEs.
6. Establish relationships with Parliamentary Portfolio Committees on Health and Gender to advocate for relevant legal and policy reforms informed by findings from community, district, and provincial levels in Year 2

 

Target Population and Area of Operation

The project targets women and girls in Masvingo district, both urban and rural. It will work with four urban clinics and 13 rural clinics.